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Avante Integration

Add MCP capabilities to Avante.nvim by following these steps:

Add Tools To Avante

lua
require("avante").setup({
    -- system_prompt as function ensures LLM always has latest MCP server state
    -- This is evaluated for every message, even in existing chats
    system_prompt = function()
        local hub = require("mcphub").get_hub_instance()
        return hub and hub:get_active_servers_prompt() or ""
    end,
    -- Using function prevents requiring mcphub before it's loaded
    custom_tools = function()
        return {
            require("mcphub.extensions.avante").mcp_tool(),
        }
    end,
})
  • The get_active_servers_prompt() function adds the running MCP servers from MCP Hub to system_prompt
  • The mcp_tool() function adds two custom tools use_mcp_tool and access_mcp_resource to avante.

Configure Avante Integration

By default, MCP server prompts will be available as /mcp:server_name:prompt_name in avante chat.

lua
require("mcphub").setup({
    extensions = {
        avante = {
            make_slash_commands = true, -- make /slash commands from MCP server prompts
        }
    }
})

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Tool Conflicts

MCP Hub's built-in Neovim server provides some basic development tools by default.

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Avante also provides built-in tools for file operations and terminal access. You need to disable either the MCP Hub's built-in tools or Avante's tools to avoid conflicts. If you prefer to use neovim server tools, you should disable the corresponding Avante tools to prevent duplication:

lua
require("avante").setup({
    disabled_tools = {
        "list_files",    -- Built-in file operations
        "search_files",
        "read_file",
        "create_file",
        "rename_file",
        "delete_file",
        "create_dir",
        "rename_dir",
        "delete_dir",
        "bash",         -- Built-in terminal access
    },
})

Auto-Approval

By default, whenever avante calls use_mcp_tool or access_mcp_resource tool, it shows a confirm dialog with tool name, server name and arguments.

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Global Auto-Approval

You can set auto_approve to true to automatically approve all MCP tool calls without user confirmation:

lua
require("mcphub").setup({
    -- This sets vim.g.mcphub_auto_approve to true by default (can also be toggled from the HUB UI with `ga`)
    auto_approve = true, 
})

This also sets vim.g.mcphub_auto_approve variable to true. You can also toggle this option in the MCP Hub UI with ga keymap. You can see the current auto approval status in the Hub UI.

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Fine-Grained Auto-Approval

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For more control, configure auto-approval per server or per tool in your servers.json:

json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "trusted-server": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": ["trusted-mcp-server"],
            "autoApprove": true  // Auto-approve all tools on this server
        },
        "partially-trusted": {
            "command": "npx", 
            "args": ["some-mcp-server"],
            "autoApprove": ["read_file", "list_files"]  // Only auto-approve specific tools
        }
    }
}

You can also toggle auto-approval from the Hub UI:

  • Press a on a server line to toggle auto-approval for all tools on that server
  • Press a on an individual tool to toggle auto-approval for just that tool
  • Resources are always auto-approved (no configuration needed)

Function-Based Auto-Approval

For maximum control, provide a function that decides approval based on the specific tool call:

lua
require("mcphub").setup({
    auto_approve = function(params)
        -- Auto-approve GitHub issue reading
        if params.server_name == "github" and params.tool_name == "get_issue" then
            return true -- Auto approve
        end
        
        -- Block access to private repos
        if params.arguments.repo == "private" then
            return "You can't access my private repo" -- Error message
        end
        
        -- Auto-approve safe file operations in current project
        if params.tool_name == "read_file" then
            local path = params.arguments.path or ""
            if path:match("^" .. vim.fn.getcwd()) then
                return true -- Auto approve
            end
        end
        
        -- Check if tool is configured for auto-approval in servers.json
        if params.is_auto_approved_in_server then
            return true -- Respect servers.json configuration
        end
        
        return false -- Show confirmation prompt
    end,
})

Parameters available in the function:

  • params.server_name - Name of the MCP server
  • params.tool_name - Name of the tool being called (nil for resources)
  • params.arguments - Table of arguments passed to the tool
  • params.action - Either "use_mcp_tool" or "access_mcp_resource"
  • params.uri - Resource URI (for resource access)
  • params.is_auto_approved_in_server - Boolean indicating if tool is configured for auto-approval in servers.json

Return values:

  • true - Auto-approve the call
  • false - Show confirmation prompt
  • string - Deny with error message
  • nil - Show confirmation prompt (same as false)

Auto-Approval Priority

The system checks auto-approval in this order:

  1. Function: Custom auto_approve function (if provided)
  2. Server-specific: autoApprove field in server config
  3. Default: Show confirmation dialog

Usage

  1. Start a chat in Avante
  2. All the tools, resources, templates from the running MCP servers will be added to system prompt along with use_mcp_tool and access_mcp_resource tools.
  3. Avante will call use_mcp_tool and access_mcp_resource tools when necessary

Released under the MIT License.